I recently bought a 2000 328i from a friend who overheated the car when the accessory belt on the water pump failed. He kept driving the car for several miles with the temp gauge in the red and it eventually lost all power. He had it towed to a shop and they said it needed a head gasket and a new head, quoting him $5000 for the fix.
So he ended up selling the car to me for next to nothing, and I began pulling it apart to see if I could get lucky and just change the head gasket and be good to go.
I believe the car does have a bad head gasket but am worried it might have sustained damage to the bottom end. These are the symptoms I have found so far:
Car was very low on oil, like not even on the dipstick. I drained out about 3 quarts I believe and this was within 1000 miles of an oil change and he is confident it was full of oil before it overheated. It appears to have blown a lot of oil out on the drivers side of the engine but I cant tell from where. The oil has a strange, acrid burnt smell. The oil does not appear milky or have any other signs of coolant in it.
The coolant appears to be full and I can't see any signs of oil in it.
Spark plugs looked flooded with fuel, probably from trying to start it. They may have had a little oil on them.
Compression is way low; I only checked two cylinders but one was only building 40psi and the other maybe 10.
Anyone have any idea if I might get away with just changing the head gasket or does it sound like I have bigger problems?
I have the Bently service manual and am familiar with checking the head bolts to make sure they will take torque and the threads in the block aren't damaged before removing the head.
Any input is appreciated!
So he ended up selling the car to me for next to nothing, and I began pulling it apart to see if I could get lucky and just change the head gasket and be good to go.
I believe the car does have a bad head gasket but am worried it might have sustained damage to the bottom end. These are the symptoms I have found so far:
Car was very low on oil, like not even on the dipstick. I drained out about 3 quarts I believe and this was within 1000 miles of an oil change and he is confident it was full of oil before it overheated. It appears to have blown a lot of oil out on the drivers side of the engine but I cant tell from where. The oil has a strange, acrid burnt smell. The oil does not appear milky or have any other signs of coolant in it.
The coolant appears to be full and I can't see any signs of oil in it.
Spark plugs looked flooded with fuel, probably from trying to start it. They may have had a little oil on them.
Compression is way low; I only checked two cylinders but one was only building 40psi and the other maybe 10.
Anyone have any idea if I might get away with just changing the head gasket or does it sound like I have bigger problems?
I have the Bently service manual and am familiar with checking the head bolts to make sure they will take torque and the threads in the block aren't damaged before removing the head.
Any input is appreciated!